Raven Guitar:

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I did a search, and came up with lots of postings about 'Raven West' guitars, but has anyone heard of a guitar that just says 'Raven' across the headstock? It's apparently a Les Paul copy, originally made in 70's, and the guy that's selling it to me mentioned that it was the 'lawsuit' guitar. It had nice weight to it, was in great shape as far as finish, not great pickups *(yet!) but even searching on the 'net didn't yield me a lot of answers, so I thought I'd ask here with you guys! I plugged it in and played, and it did sound great, even thru a very small amp, and had really good action for me, although that 12 pound weight (seems that much!) might be a feature I'd be cursing when playing with my band at some point. I haven't finalized the deal, yet, but did put money down on it. The guy at the music store told me that all the other employees were eyeballing it, for themselves. But, for a starter guitar for me, the price was just excellent - I couldn't walk away without at least putting a hold on it! I miss it, already - it's sitting in the store, and I'm here on the computer, and I JUST KNOW IT'S LONELY without me!!! LOL Nah, I want to bring it home, but thought I'd best run things by you all first.

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I have never heard of Raven guitars. But most lawsuit era copies are made extremely well. That is why the lawsuit happened in the first place.

They played great, were generally built like tanks, and had the same exact body. Most of the time the headstock was almost identical as well.

If you like the way it feels, and the way it sounds... By all means, GET IT! Just make sure you get a nice wide shoulder strap, or an ergo-strap that goes over both shoulders. It will save you a ton of back pain.

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No help on info....but the way your Raven about it says to me you made a great choice. Half the battle is getting one that feels right to you. And don't think of it as heavy, think of it as fully loaded!

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That was a tough one bear with me here, here's a little bit of info about the Raven guitar, the Mann Guitar and the Raven Guitar were as far as I know made in Japan in the same place some were labeled Mann some were labeled Raven and imported to Canada there's a question mark on whether Matsumoku made them and there is also a rumour that Ibanez were behind them but this is hard to confirm apparently the early ones were awesome but the quality dipped a bit in the later models. I've put a load of Reviews on for the Mann guitar/Raven Guitar one of the reviewers collects these and has both Ravens and Manns,

Mann and Raven Guitars were labeled and imported to Canada by "Great West Musical Imports" of Vancouver BC in the 70's and 80's. There were a huge success and these low cost but fair to good quality Guitars are still seen in the marketplace regularly today.(gear Archive)

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Wow, what an absolute BANK of info you guys have provided me here! I think you are absolutely correct on that info StarSailor, and I may just have found a real gem here, as it IS almost exactly like the Mann you posted, right down to the mother of pearl and the hardware. Seems they were closer to Gibson's, would that be correct? The info you've given me, Star, is almost word for word what the music store guy told me, only, of course, I forgot a lot of what he said...LOL I may just end up getting this guitar, this upcoming weekend, so I'm assuming pics would be in order! LOL

Now I just have to figure out my budget for amp, case, cord, etc...and one of them 'ergonomic' straps sounds necessary! Any recommendations on any of those items, people?

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Well, that's a great question, eX!!! The stuff that the band and I are working on is high energy, for example, Alternative stuff like STP, some SRV, etc., but I want to pull them away from that a little and hit some Toronto songs, Sass Jordan, that kind of thing. I love high energy, female oriented, like Chrissy Hynde, and Benatar, that type of thing. Budget is a few hundred CDN, although I can save up if I absolutely must, but I'm hoping to not break the bank on this expense. Hard rock and blues, mainly...? But I likely won't be needing the amp and accoutrements for playing out, since there are already two guitarists, but more for just jamming at home for now. That may change in a while, though, who knows?

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I have to get the rest of the equipment, allthumbs, for that sound clip, like, oh well, let's see....an amp, a patch cord, some kind of line in thingy for my pc...LOL But all those are coming, I have my eye on a Roland Microcube, as I wouldn't need big stacks of anything here at my apartment, and this one apparently comes with effects, for a good price, within my budget. Might even have enough left over for a case or something! But soon as I have it, I'll lay down a tune for you...!

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Very nice.....congratulations! That one looks like a Gibson Les Paul Custom with a cool big star....and will likely be a lifetime keeper! There will be a lot of opinions here but I like Vox DA5 practice amp! Also, Musicians Friend has a good price for a hard les paul case! Midnight